Water cooler with a drain arrangement



Jan. 18, 1949. l s. o. MORRISON WATER COOLER WITH A DRAIN ARRANGEMENTFiled June 2e, 1946` 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Il llll Jlll ll INVENTR amcglQQWOTU oRNEYs.

Jan. l8`, 1949. s. o. MoRRisoN WATER COOLER WITH A DRAIN ARRANGEMENT 2Sheets-Sheet 2,

Filed June 2e, "194e INVENToR.

A TTORNEY.

taste or odor.

Patented Jan. 18, 1949 aise-,wif

Waren COOLER wir A ARRANGEMEM Samuel 0. Morrison, Medafila., asslgnortok Sunroc'Refrigeration Qompany, Dover, Del.,fa Y f .prporaton ofDelaware M A" L VApplnathn June 2:6., 1946, SeiialfNOf 679;,505

Y 1 My invention lrelates to water coolers or V'drinkins fountains, v z'A it,purpose'of rny invention is to eliminate a cause' o fintermittentunpleasant taste and odor in water dispensed from Waterl coolers.

A iurther' purpose isv to prevent theserving of siiissci dead water;

A vfurther purpose is to lead the vWater connection from the. wat???CQOling uniti-tothe Water dispenser via the draintting, suitablyadjacent a wallet the `6001er Cabinet.-

A Afurtlfier(purpose, is'to provide the outlet of a Water cooling,iiriii suitably Qivertial coil' WPS di the bottonr, and to lead theWater` Vfromthe outletLdrst downward to a .drain ,tiiiig befdie lead#ing nue-ward to a Water dispenser! n further purpdse Where a pluralityof die pensera are used is inr .lead the Water .frdinfihe @olineunitiirsi to, admin nitide preferably zadcessible from outside thecooler .before branching to me individual dispensers.,

Further purposes appear in the specication and in the claims.

In the drawings I have chosen to illustrate one only of the-numerousembodiments in which my invention may appear, the form shown beingchosen from the standpoints of convenience in illustration, satisfactory"operating and ,clear demonstration of the princi-'ples involved.

'Figure A1 is a rear elevation, partially diagram- `matic, of a watercooler to which my invention is applied.

Figure 1a is a diagrammatic top plan view, partly in section, showing myinvention applied to a Water cooler.

Figure 2 is a. rear elevation of the drain fitting of the invention.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the drain tting of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4--4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a section through a single turn of the unit, taken on theline 5-5 of Figure 1.

Describing in illustration but not in limitation and referring to thedrawings:

In prior art Water coolers, sometimes -called drinking fountains, of thetype which cool a stream or a body of drinking Water and supply it to adispenser, there have been intermittent complaints that an individualuser has been supplied with a drink of Water which has Van unpleasant Oninvestigation of such cornplaints, it was commonly found that thecondition 4could not be duplicated at the cooler about which complainthad .been made, and the cause laims. (Cl. (ig- 1411).

' was; @suited te asesoria recu-,liana ofthe, in-

can

divi.' dal' user, dr @audition present in :the ideal drin Iris. watersur rv 9i distribution SYStem-- nowevepsiidh complaints, would recuratiri. regular intervals andin `widely separated localities. and .I wasaedrdinely led to reexamine the w er Cooler @destruction i0 See. Whetherany mdteirials used' iii the piping, iiemidls' used in $.01*

dering, or Weldingz dissimilar insidia. dementie.-

tion cellcorrosion due to dissolved oxygen or other gases, attack :by ordeposit of minerals fromv them Wailea local condition of hardness,chlorination or any other cause was responsible for this condition'. l v

Surprisingly, Iu iound'after exhausting 'nur nerl ous possibilities thatthe cause was not corrosion,` nor related to the materials died. biliWas' .d ,Iridiie'rof design which, Once its importance was diS- covered,could be readily corrected.A

1.11 the Prior dit practice, as Shdwn. iii aart .0f Figure l, the Watercopier consists of a cabinet 20 having a base l2'i'sid,e Walls'gg and atop l23, pro-- vided with :diie oriddiddislpeiisers 24, suitably abubbler .225' iid a' dr' kine glass faucet .2li- The top. has a A.canilibasins?. -dniiediiiie with a Sump" 2.8,. having a Waste' ,eine #L ,id ,awastecdnriediion Iiitinei!."ddriiieeted with the plumbine- Y .Inletdrinking. Waierfrdm 'any suitable .source enters' miei" iiiiiris '3i andiidvvs4 by pipe 32 through 'the sump 28 to bepredddied' by .the WasteWater, and thence by pipe 33 to a cooling unit 34, having separateinterior passages, as shown, for water and refrigerant. From the coolingunit, the drinking water was in the prior art (unlike Figure 1)conducted directly to the dispenseror dispensers. Also from some lowpoint Iin the'sys tem, a spur pipe Was in the prior art run to adrainage tting adjacent a Wall 22 of the cabinet. I find that it is thisspur pipe which has -caused the diiculty. Apparently, since thek waterin this spur pipe has been largely Iinactive or noncirculating,bacteriological, mycological or chemical eiects have taken placein suchWater, due to organisms and/or ingredients of the Water. Eventually insome cases the Awater in the spur pipe has become unpleasant in taste orodor. Occasionally,v due to an unusual pressurev 0r flow relation, abody of air carried by the water stream, or some other cause, va slug ofthis water from the spur pipe has been fed to the dispenser, andcomplaints have resulted.

By lchanging the design, diiculty from this cause has been eliminated. Imake the inlet Water connection 33 to the Water passage 3d of the Watercooling unit 34 at the top and provide a water outlet 35 at the bottom.From the water outlet 35 I avoid direct connection vto the dispenser asin the prior art, but instead lead a pipe 36 downwardly from the outlet35 to a drainage tting 31, adjacent a Wall 22 of the to permit drainageto prevent freezing when the water is cut oi or the cooler is moved orshipped. From the drainage iitting 31, connection is pro;` vided to thedispenser or dispensers, here pipe 38;l to bubbler 25 and pipe 39 tofaucet 26. In this layout, all Water to the dispensers passes directly fthrough the drainage ttingandfnojonger is there any spur pipe toaccumulate inactive wate and develop taste or odor.

as from a mechanical refrigeration unit at 40 having a refrigerantsupplyline 4Il through a valve 42 to the bottomof the vertical coil, anda refrigerant return lineV 43 from the top of thecoil. The detail of therefrigeration unit and connections is of course notpartfof the presentinvention.. f f

Figures 1a to4 show morel'clearly the preferred arrangement. The ldraintting 31 has. an inlet 4,4 for the pipe 36`from the cooling unit 34(here shown of tank type), and outlets 45 and 46 arranged in a deformedY`to connect to pipe 39 to bubbler `25 and pipe 39 to faucet 26.

A boss 41,eXtendsthrough a hole '48 in thje V cabinet wall 22, receivinga` drain plug 49 in]` its pipe thread 59. Thedran plug is accessiblefromoutside the cabinet .to'drain the water whenthe cooler is shut loi. y f1 y.Flangesy 5l .around the boss inside the Wall24 carry openings 52 forbolts 53 to fasten the drain tting to the wall.l 'f f W By thepresentinvention, it will be evident that no .dead water space is providedinside the Adrain fitting at 54, or in any of the piping.

In view of my invention and disclosure varia,-l

tions and modifications to meet individual' whim or particular need willdoubtless become evident to others skilled in the art, to obtain all orpart off the benefits-of rmy inventionl without copying the structureshown, and I therefore claim all such insofar as they fall within thereasonable spirit and scope of my claims.

Having thus described my invention what I.

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a water cooler, a drinking water dispenser, a water cooling unitbelow the dispenser, a drain fitting below the water cooling unit, aninlet connection -ffvor watervto thecooling unit, a connectiondeadifgfroniithebottoif;the` cooling unit downward to the drain tting and aconnection leading upward from the drain tting to the c ,i dispenser.

24; I n a water cooler, a cooler cabinet, a drinking "water dispenser atthe top of the cabinet, a water cooling unit in the-cabinet below thedispenser,

means for supplying drinking water to the cooling 1. unitfa'rdrain'fitting below the cooling unit and Y adjacent one wall of thecabinet, a water con- Refrigerant to pass throughv the refrigerant"passage 342 of the cooling unit (coil) is provided nectic'n from thecooling unit to the drain fitting andlacwater connectionfrom the drainfitting to the Water dispenser.

, 3.In awater cooler, acoolerycabnema plurality of drinkingwater'dispensers at 'the top of the cabineta watercooling unit in thelcabinet below the dispensers, meansY for' supplying@ drinking watertothe coolingunina'A drain fitting below the ,coolingV unit'a'njdaccessible `for opening vfrom outside the cabinet, a watervconnectionfrorn the bottom4 of the coolingunit extending downward tothedrainitting, and.y connections extending upward. from the drain rfittingto the individual dispensers.

y. 4. Inra Water cooler, a dispenser, a vertical coil. water coolingunithaving water car'ryingpase.

sages in? the coil below `the dispenser, means for introducing ywatertobe cooled at thev topof the coil cooling unit, ajfdrairi lfittingbelowl 'the bottom I ofthe coil cooling unit,'a water connection ex?tending :downward-from the bottom of the coil cooling unit to thedrainflttin'g and a water con,-

nection extending upward from the drain `fittingy of record in the.

